Pakistan

Poverty remains one of Pakistan’s most serious challenges. According to the United Nations, an estimate of one third of the Pakistani population live below the poverty line, and almost half of the population consumes just one meal a day.

Economic gains made in the country in the 1980s and 1990s have receded in recent years. And although the country suffers from internal instability caused by political conflicts, it is the home to one million refugees from neighboring Afghanistan.

Pakistan is also prone to a number of natural disasters and has been susceptible to droughts, floods, earthquakes and cyclones. Each natural disaster dislocates Pakistan’s inhabitants, creating countless internally uprooted people.

The devastating floods that struck Pakistan in the summer of 2010 killed approximately 2,000 people and affected the lives of more than 20 million people. The flood waters damaged or destroyed 1.9 million houses and also decimated 6.2 million acres of crops in a country that is highly dependent on agriculture.

It will take joint effort from the humanitarian community and long-term commitments to help Pakistan rebuild its infrastructure and begin to properly address the health, education and livelihood needs of its people.